Cajuns in line to return to the New Orleans Bowl

LAFAYETTE — Louisiana-Lafayette is confident enough of a fourth straight invitation to the New Orleans Bowl that the Ragin’ Cajuns ticket office began taking orders for bowl tickets Monday ... and the New Orleans Bowl was the only one on the order form.

The New Orleans Bowl gets the first selection from the Sun Belt Conference, and the Cajuns top the league standings among bowl-eligible teams. UL-Lafayette Athletic Director Scott Farmer said New Orleans Bowl representatives have been in touch.

So why hasn’t an official announcement been made or scheduled? Farmer said it has everything to do with the College Football Playoff.

“Most people think that’s just four teams and two games, and the two winners go to Dallas and play for the national championship,” Farmer said Monday.

The Sun Belt is part of the “Group of Five” conferences that includes the Mountain West, the American, Conference USA and the Mid-American. That group is guaranteed one spot in the pool of those four bowl games — the Cotton, Peach, Fiesta and Orange bowls — that are played on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

“The five champions of those conferences will get vetted by the selection committee,” Farmer said, “and the best team will go to one of those four games. As long as we are in the running for a conference championship, we cannot accept a bowl invitation.”